


Fight the good fight

by hongmunmu



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Trans Character, One Shot, Other, Past Relationship(s), Phone Call, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 00:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15327855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hongmunmu/pseuds/hongmunmu
Summary: Ten years without contact means Dragon and Ivankov's phone call goes on a little longer than expected.





	Fight the good fight

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sad and i wish iva and dragon's catch-up after she got back to kamabakka kingdom got more screentime. also iva is genderfluid, i just use she/her for simplicity's sake. please leave kudos/comments if you enjoyed!

“...You are mad. Every inch.”

“You wouldn’t have me any other way, candy-boy. Every revolution needs a good dose of madness. Otherwise, no-one would give a damn.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Dragon chortles.

“How you managed without me all those years, I’ll never know.” 

“...Iva,” Dragon says, his tone shifting through the static. A beat. “One more thing.” 

“Don’t keep me in suspense, darling,” trills the snail.  

“I’m sorry.” 

Now that, Ivankov wasn’t expecting. Stunned into silence, she just blinks, gloved hand tightening around the receiver, before finally mustering the composure to say, “Whatever for?” 

“Don’t play dumb— for not telling you about Luffy. For leaving you at Impel Down all those years. Take your pick.” 

There’s a long, telling silence. When Iva finally replies, her voice is tight.

“Dragon dear, you’re leading a revolution, not playing pirate. The children might be more idealistic about leaving no man behind, but they’re children, and they can afford to be stupid. I hardly would’ve expected you to orchestrate a rescue mission for one commander… however fabulous she might be. If you’d risked all we worked for on a suicide mission to break me out, I might have never forgiven you.” More static silence. “Besides, if Inazuma and I hadn’t been in 5.5 at the time Straw-boy had come barging in, you might not have  _ had _ a son to tell me about. So you’re welcome, daddio.”

Dragon’s quiet for a moment, taking it in. Iva’s a good actress - the best actress on the damn Grand Line, actually - but it’s been long enough for Dragon to know when to call bullshit. Maybe she could fool her little okama army into thinking she was impervious, but she couldn’t fool Dragon; he knew about Impel Down. He knew about every layer of hell in that dark sea-tower. There’s a lot of things Dragon should say to Iva, Iva who took the fall for him - ten years in the place that people don’t come back from - and could still bounce back in inch-thick makeup and insist it was all part of the plan. Iva who’d do all that and never lose faith in her captain.

But instead, pathetically, all Dragon can manage is: “Indestructible as ever.” Mentally, he kicks himself, because he’s become one of  _ those _ men. The kind of man who took his crew for granted; the kind of man his son would vow to never become. 

Just in time, Iva saves him (again).

“Don’t go soft on me, Dragon. A girl might get the wrong idea.”

She always could take a heartfelt moment and slap it into shape before anyone got too emotional. Tears would ruin her makeup, he supposes. “Oh, I would  _ never _ .”

There’s a soft, unmistakable chuckle on the other side of the line that takes Dragon back to when he was twenty-five and headstrong and surrounded by people who loved and believed in him unconditionally. Kuma on his right side, Iva on his left.

“You’d best not. This is our first conversation in a decade, and I’m not having you ruin it, not before you tell me about Kuma.”

Dragon sighs, brows knit. “You saw him, then.” 

“He tried to  _ kill  _ me _. Kuma _ , Dragon—  _ our  _ Kuma. What  _ happened _ to him?”

“It’s a difficult story, Iva.” A pause. “Are you alone?” 

“Of course I’m alone. I survived Impel Down, Dragon, I’ve hardly forgotten how to be a public enemy.” 

“Good. Then…” Another deep, labored sigh. “I’ll tell you all the truth. But you’d best sit down.” 

He tells her. The whole, brutal tale from start to finish; his mission as a double agent that would be his last, how he fooled the World Government, joined the Seven Warlords and protected the revolutionary army from the inside; all the way to his discovery, his lobotomy, his transformation under Vegapunk into the weapon Pacifista. The cold, cold day when Dragon realised he’d lost one of his closest friends. Kuma’s final act of loyalty to the revolution, saving the Strawhats from the World Government, at the cost of his last few moments of consciousness. By the time he’s finished, Iva might be crying; there’s no way for Dragon to tell. It takes a long time for either of them to speak again, like an unannounced minute of silence in their companion’s memory. They’re both staring out to the same sea. 

“Bartholomew Kuma,” Iva says mournfully. “True to the end.”

“He won’t be the last, you know,” Dragon warns, as if prompted by guilt. “I fear a great deal more men will meet similar fates before this war is won.” 

“He knew the risks, Dragon; the Kuma I knew wouldn’t change a thing. No point dwelling on what’s done. All we can do is—”

“Honor his sacrifice.”

“Fight the good fight.”

“Yes.” 

More silence. 

“I just wish I could’ve said goodbye to him.”

“He knew, Iva.”

Of course, the sentiment wasn’t much of a comfort, but in their position— anything was something. Kuma had been crucial not just to the revolution but to  _ them,  _ to their crew, their family, their everything. Kuma had been a listening ear for new recruits with doubts about the man they were following, someone to complain to when Dragon was being a bastard or Iva was being immature, and patient with both of the latter when they struggled with the pressure they were all under. Kuma had been a confidant to Dragon in places Iva hadn’t; he’d been the sole member of his crew who knew about his son, the man he’d trusted all of his secrets with; the ones that would’ve made anyone else lose faith. For Iva, Kuma had been a dear friend, a partner in crime; someone on equal footing with her who understood the frustration that came hand-in-hand with being close to Dragon. The right hand that held the left. Always patient, and understanding, and an incorrigible shoulder to cry on when their captain was too hard on them after more bad news. A reliable, salt-of-the-Earth, stone pillar in a great ocean of uncertainty. Their very own anchor. 

“Government-controlled or no, he was right about one thing, Dragon. That son of yours is worth protecting. He takes after you, you know.” 

“As of now, you know him better than I do.”

“Well, someone’s got to do the parenting while you’re off saving the world.”


End file.
